2008 Toyota Land Cruiser Preview

2008ToyotaLandCruiser

10/17/2007

Ultimate SUV for the Offroad Mom

Call me thick (headed, that is), but I’ve always been a little perplexed by Toyota’s full-size SUV offerings. The average consumer — whoever that is — would be hard-pressed to distinguish a Sequoia from a Land Cruiser, other than by the price (about $20K more for the Land Cruiser). So I traveled to Big Sky, Mont., to drive the all-new Land Cruiser and find out for myself.

Like many SUVs out there, most of the Land Cruisers sold will never go off-road. So why are people buying them? Well, apparently the “perception value” of this vehicle is huge, and my non-scientific conclusion is that people who buy the Land Cruiser are soft-roaders — people who want to be perceived as adventurers. That buyer does not want to be perceived as someone who would just spend money for luxury, otherwise they would buy the Land Cruiser’s slightly more swanky cousin, the Lexus LX 470.

I tested both the 4×4 capabilities and the luxurious highway driving features of the Land Cruiser. I must say it would make a very functional, very well appointed, not very sexy kid-hauler, which is where my beef with Toyota’s redesigned vehicle arises: It looks like vanilla ice cream tastes — nice, but total snoozeville. The 2008 Land Cruiser looks like a giant Highlander — not nearly as cool and retro as its little brother, the FJ Cruiser. A supersized FJ might inspire some style-conscious mamas to move up the line, but a huge Highlander isn’t likely to.

While this big SUV is likely to serve just as a primary grocery-getter and carpool-lane-cruiser, it’s still nice to know that using the brand new Crawl Control feature, I could probably scale a cart corral in an overcrowded grocery store parking lot. Also notable is another innovation, a Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (catchy, huh?) that happens to give this capable cart-crawler a super-comfortable ride on the highway.

In spite of the fact that I’m unmoved by its new style, the 2008 Toyota Land Cruiser deserves accolades for its deluxe creature comforts — things like heated front and rear seats, a rockin’ JBL premium sound system, and a top-notch list of safety features. A full test somewhere down the road, with kids in tow, will give us a good idea of its day-to-day capabilities. Watch out if you happen to be in the neighborhood — you never know when a dedicated mother-proofer will look to go off-road.